Pizza Talk

Welcome back to Pizza Quest, where we celebrate artisanship wherever we find it (or, as we often say, “It’s more about the Quest than it is about the Pizza”). This episode features Maurizio Leo, the author of the hottest new bread book on the market, The Perfect Loaf. Maurizio, like many bread bakers of this era (myself included), was not formally trained as an apprentice or at a culinary school before…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest.  It’s been a while since we last posted a video here, but we’ve lined up a new season of interesting interviews for you so please spread the word. For this season opener, I have a special treat for both professional and home baking pizza freaks. Allow me to introduce you to Kirk Dobihal, the creator of a Detroit Pizza/Scone hybrid called The Sconizza. Kirk and…Read More…

In this episode of Pizza Quest we return to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a visit with another member of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, this time with Amy Emberling. Amy is the managing partner at the world-famous Zingerman’s Bakehouse, where NY-Style rye bread meets San Francisco-style sourdough, and “Old School Apple Pie” gets reinvented using Michigan-grown apples with a crust made with the highest quality leaf lard. Amy shares with…Read More…

We welcome back Mark Todd, The Cheese Dude, to Pizza Quest. This is Mark’s third visit in what will continue as an ongoing series of master sessions (which makes him our “Cheese Yoda”) on the fathomless world of cheese. In previous episodes we explored Pasta Filata, which is the category of mozzarella and other pulled cheeses, followed by an episode on the very diverse world of cheddar. This time around,…Read More…

Leah Scurto was born to be a food star, not just a pizza star, as you will learn in this entertaining conversation with host Peter Reinhart. Half Mexican, half Italian, born into a family of food lovers who shared wonderful family meals during her early years, Leah’s current success was simply meant to be. You’ll hear all about her award winning pizzas and culinary vision for the future of Pizza…Read More…

Michael Kalanty was my faculty colleague when I taught at the California Culinary Academy back in the 1990’s. Since then, he and I have been on parallel tracks, both as educators, bread authors, and as product developers. In this episode, Michael shares his long and winding road from pastry chef, bread expert and educator, product developer for major food companies, and even how he became a “Certified Master Taster.” All…Read More…

Three years ago, Eidref Laxa started a podcast in San Jose, California as a way to learn everything he could about pizza so that, maybe, one day he could open his own pizzeria. Over 150 episodes later, “What’s Good Dough“ has become a goldmine of pizza knowledge, culled from the giants in the industry who have generously shared their knowledge with Eidref, who then shares it with his listeners. In…Read More…

Everyday, new pizzerias open everywhere to varying degrees of success. But what is it that causes some of them to immediately break from the pack and generate buzz and excitement? Geno DiPaolo and his daughter Gena somehow found that “secret sauce” to make it happen in Charlotte, NC, at their Geno D’s Pizza. Geno is known as by his fans as “Geno from Jersey,” and that is part, but not…Read More…

Welcome Back to Pizza Quest, Ann Arbor is one of the great college towns in the country, but it is equally revered in the food world as the home of Zingerman’s, the destination deli and bakehouse that has become a benchmark brand, the Zabar’s of the mid-west if I might be so bold.  But it is also a restaurant incubator, via their “Community of Businesses,” as witnessed by Miss Kim,…Read More…

Welcome back, everybody.         Tommy Garnick is known and loved throughout the pizza world as the Grand Champion of the 2019 California Milk Board Pizza Competition, and as the former owner of Brava Pizza in Denver, and as an instructor at The Fire Within Wood-Fired University. More recently, however, Tommy has relocated to Tucson, Arizona, where he and his partners are building a multi-purpose artisan culinary and crafts…Read More…